Protect America

We’re not a fan. We were tired of paying through the nose for the system we got when we first bought our house, so I researched and called around and decided to go with Protect America.
First word of caution: This is a self install only company. We never installed it. Ever. It’s still in a box, but by the time we realized how awful of a job it was going to be to take out one system and put in another, we never bothered. If you aren’t handy, please… just run in the other direction. Their idea of help is someone on the phone with you walking you through installing a box full of crap.
Fast forward 30 months: We move and put the house on the market due to military orders. I call, state relief via the SCRA, send in a copy of the orders and expect it to be cancelled. Queue a call SIX months later that I owe them money (my debit card expired in February, I didn’t give them the new one, because… I cancelled my service). No, I explain. I cancelled. We moved. SCRA. We spoke about it before I agreed to the contract and again when I called to cancel. Oh, you only do it if he deploys or we PCS OCONUS… yeah, that isn’t how it was explained to me, because I never would have agreed to it.
Whatever, I’m at the 36 month mark, cancel me now. Oh, it’ll be thirty SEVEN months, because today is the third and not the last day of last month. Perfect.
Oh, swell, you did me a «favor» and knocked that 37^th month charge off for a service I never actually used.
Oh and no, for the 80^th time, I don’t want your service at my new place or, really, ever again.

Got stuck on a 3 year contract with them. Wish I’d known it’d be so horrible! I moved twice since I originally bought the system. Even before I moved the first time, the stickers on the sensors weren’t strong at all and I couldn’t ever use the motion sensor because it would keep falling and triggering the alarm.
Customer service is a joke. Any time you want to change anything, it’s difficult to get ahold of anyone and when you do, it’s not likely that the change will even happen. When I log into the protectamerica website, it still says I live in the place I did when I first bought this system even though I’ve contacted them several times about changing the address and have been told every time that the address has been changed. I had a roommate initially and then we parted ways and I still can’t get their phone number off my account. I can’t wait until my contract expires so I never have to even think about this company again.

I don’t recommend this company. Customer service is what a business like this should be about and they just don’t get it. From apathetic responses to down right disrespectful and unprofessional. Not solutions oriented at all. Beware, they will contract you for a specified term but tack on extra payments/​months at whim. Oh! And note, you have to give them 30 days notice to cancel or they will just keep adding on payments even after the contract has ended, claiming you are now month to month (even if you didn’t sign up for month-​to-​month service)
Customer service is a nightmare:
Thanks to the horrific service of Taylor and her supervisor Kelly, they didn’t gain a new customer and lost a multiple account holder. I have two homes and two office buildings with this company. I guarantee not one contract will be renewed. I signed on for a 3 year contract that is up in four months (September 30). I chose to transfer my service from one home to my mom so she can get a feel for it, perhaps sign on as a customer. On May 12^th I spoke to a rep who was very helpful. She let me know the process for transfer and confirmed the contract ends ⁹⁄₃₀. When mom received the contract it stated five months was due. We called (⁵⁄₂₇) to get this corrected. Taylor (a customer service rep) let us know if we started October 1, then a full year would end in October and create the extra payment due. What? A year is 12 months. The contract would end September 30^th. Why are we obligated to an additional month? She kept repeating her statement that a year is Oct — Oct. I corrected her and said I understood that’s what her screen said, but we can all count so that’s clearly incorrect. Her response: well if you count, Oct 1 — Oct 1 is 365 days. Ok, obviously I gave her too much credit. Considering 365 days from Oct 1 is Sept 30!!! And this is a leap year so, technically, it’s actually Sep 29 (which is why business go by the # of months since that doesn’t change but she wanted to go there… ok) …counting isn’t her strong suit. Got it. I can excuse that if it weren’t for the unprofessional manner she chose to voice her ignorance. She follows it with «you can speak to my supervisor if you want her to tell you the same thing» Again, unprofessional at best immature and ignorant at worst. I was praying her supervisor, Kelly, was intelligent enough to know there’s only 12 months in a year OR how to count to 365; both which, save for the extra leap year day, would lead to the conclusion the contract ends on September 30 and no extra payment due. No such luck. Ok, if elementary math isn’t where they excel… perhaps customer service is still a priority. Nope. Kelly was only able to read the script. NO troubleshooting or solution based responses were offered to keep the client happy. Add to that, several times throughout the contract they would claim the credit card wasn’t clearing and would have folks call to confirm the credit card number. That seems fishy. How is your system changing or booting the credit card number every few months? Several times I refused to confirm the credit card because you never know if it’s a scammer trying to steal info. So I’d say I’ll call you back, and dial the call center # to make sure it was them calling. Sure enough their system would be one digit off or not have the cvv number anymore. Why? How did it just disappear?
In the end, I’ll just have to take all business elsewhere and sign mom up with a stronger, customer-​service oriented provider. Again, I don’t recommend this company. Customer service is what a business like this should be about and they just don’t get it. From apathetic responses to down right disrespectful and unprofessional. Not solutions oriented at all. Beware, they will contract you for a specified term but charge you to 3 months… and tack on extra payments/​months at whim. Oh! And note, you have to give them 30 days notice to cancel or they will just keep adding on payments, claiming you are now month to month. No, if the contract ended, it ended. The only conversation we should be having is how to send back the outdated equipment.

Terrible customer service — like comcast terrible. Like calling you in the middle of day and placing you on hold. Like having a down security system in your house and having to wait on hold to have it re-​activated or being told — «sorry we cannot do anything about it, our network is having issues.»

This system is a piece of junk and very Dated looking. customer service is horrible every time I call they put me on hold 30 to 45 min just hoping I will hang up. They trap you in A there year contract and once you sign they can care less. Buyer beware.

First of all, I am not their actual user. But I sent a inquiry a week ago to this security systems company. They got back to my quickly. I am indecisive to commit to 36months contract with this company after the conversation. The support guy became aggressive and kept pushing me to sigh the deal. I refused at the end. Now they called me 3 – 4 times a day. I don’t know if that’s a system auto call or that actual guy. It’s very annoying to receive such phone call. So be careful when you sent inquiry with them!

Wow, I’ve only had the system for 2 weeks and I already am regretting my purchase! Now I’m locked into a 36 mo. contract with a company that doesn’t answer my emails or provide support. Worst purchase decision EVER!
I had only had the system for 1 week and the sticky backing on the motion detector failed and fell off the wall. Well, thanks to their crappy equipment, the police ended up coming to my house while I was away after the motion detector crashed to the group. All of this nonsense over a defective part.
I spoke with an agent named Adriene. And he promised me this and that. Well, he didn’t call when he said he would. And I am still waiting on a call from him to discuss reimbursement for the false alarm issue and what they would be doing to make this right.
I even shot the CEO a note. He didn’t respond either. No one cares at this company.
SAVE YOUR MONEY. GO with someone else. They’re even worse than ADT and that’s saying a lot!

I wish there was a «zero star» option, this was one of the companies I got a quote from, I decided to go in a different direction and they won’t stop calling! After asking them not to call again, and being bothered constantly at work I blocked their number.
From the beginning they were super pushy on the phone, the sales guy Thiago F. told me I had to decide while I was on the phone with him, he only had authorization to offer me the deal on the first phone call. After I told him I didn’t like that hard sell approach he still kept on it. I understand they probably have a script to stick to, but if a customer tells them their approach isn’t working, wouldn’t they try a different tactic?
I also asked him to email me the quote, and he said he would but all he sent was a «thanks for contacting Protect America» email.
I told him I would call back because I needed time to do some research, and again he kept up the hard sell saying I wouldn’t get the same deal when I called back because he only had authorization on the first call. I am so glad I passed because of all the mixed reviews I have read since. If you don’t mind a pushy sales approach from a slick sales guy then this might be the right company for you.

Great until you try to cancel them. Called to cancel and was told that my husband had to cancel since he was listed as primary and I was listed as secondary (legal spouses do not matter to this company). Accused me of trying to cancel the coverage without my husbands permission after giving the security passwords etc. Customer service is very rude. Told me it didn’t matter who he was married to… who was on the contract… only the primary could cancel period. The primary could not allow anyone else to speak for them. Told me I would just have to keep the contract until my husband could call. Wow, incredible customer service.

What a scam, when I signed up they said that I did not need to sign a contract, and I was on a month to month basis. When I called to cancel the service because I am not utilizing it, they said I was in a 3 year contract! Unbelievable scam.

Whatever you do, do not email this company for a quote. They will call you repeatedly and they won’t stop!!!

Horrible customer service. Be careful before you sign the contract. Very hard to cancel this service. They have many different department that you have to contact them to be wait on the phone for 30mins or more .They only work Mon to Fri. they will keep charging on your account and sent you to the collection company. go with any other company but not this company believe me. It’s a horrible company. I think they will no longer exist in the market in two years.

I signed up with Protect America back in July of 2014. Since then I had to move out of the home that I was renting and had to move into an apartment with my daughter and her husband who already have an alarm system so we cannot use this one that I have. I called customer service so that I could cancel my account with them and pay off the balance of the account. I was told that I could not do this and that I would have to continue paying my balance and then when my contract was up in July of 2017 I would have to call then to cancel otherwise my account would go into auto renewal for another year. I just want to pay off my account balance and be done with this company which I have had so many problems with upon signing up. I do not want to have to remember to call them in a year to cancel my account so that it doesn’t roll into another contracted year.

I am deeply worried about my protect America alarm system. We were celebrating New Year’s away from home and were informed by our gardener that a front door was open. This was a horrible nightmare for us as our alarm was armed from our cell phone app and continue to show armed. Further more, our neighbor was able to go inside the house check everything to make sure nothing was stolen and was able to go ahead and lock the door with no alarm going off.
We immediately called protect America customer service and had the worst experience possible because as soon as I explained the issue the agent went to had to say that the «contract» requires that we check our system every month. Now please explain to me how this is possible when we have a four-​month-​old baby in our house. There is no way that we will be able to call every month with a four-​month-​old baby to make sure alarm is working. What was even more disappointing was that apparently our app was not updated to the latest version. Now being a security company how can an app be released without a feature that shows that the door is open and is able to arm the alarm system!!! I understand features come out in stages but this is a security company for god sake… if you can turn on the alarm and not let me know the door is open —- that is the basic features of an alarm system — right!
Put yourself in my position for just a few moments and tell me if you would want to continue the service. I pay $ 42 every month for the past 2 ½ years, never missed a payment, never been late on a payment and this is the kind of service that I expect when I have a baby at home when and when I’m celebrating New Year’s.

I lost my job and they want let me out of my contract. They said I must pay out the contract to be free, but how is that possible with less income. Try finding security with no contract option avoid Protect America at all cost.

I love this company! They have been great from the beginning. They have the cheapest pricing with the most protection. They have wireless protection, touch panels, cameras, garage sensors, glass break sensors. The best part for me was no hard-​wiring anything and you set the system up yourself!
Super easy to do. They are also very available by phone or chat. I haven’t had 1 single issue and have had a couple false alarms. Response time was fast! They also have a decent app to manage your system (which was recently updated and is much better than it used to be) You can also set up text alerts which is pretty convenient.
Seriously check these guys out.

From day one it has been a nightmare and I’m so mad at myself for not listening to the first sign when they ran my credit and took my 100.00 plus dollars and my system never showed up.
I told them then to just cancel it but I gave them a second chance when the lady apologized and offer to add a few more sensors. I still was not happy but I new if I cancelled it I would be back at square one looking for/​scheduling with a new company. DONT FALL FOR THE SCAM! You will be stuck in a THREE YEAR CONTRACT with a SUBPAR COMPANY.
They send this ancient looking equipment, camera, and sensors that you have to install yourself. The buttons on the key pad are so hard half the time the number you pressed doesn’t even register. I had a false alarm that should have never went off in the first place cancelled immediately NO ONE CALLED NO ALARM WENT OFF… The police show up and of course a $ 250 bill shows up as
well from the police station for their «unneeded services»
Customer service representative are nice but don’t follow through they say they will have some one call you and never do! Oh and the one time he did call me back he called at 6:17 pm and my phone did not ring went straight to vm I called him back at 6:19pm and of course it was a 800 number by time I got in touch with someone 15 minutes later they tell me the department is closed for the day. REALLY!?!
Prior to that incident I had another false alarm incident and instead of them calling me directly first. The person that lives here they call my mother who is having a panic attack at this point because she does not live with me and does not know what’s going on. They didn’t call the primary or the secondary number. Then the whole issue was because their «high end «Velcro sensor fell off the door. I honestly don’t know how it’s even possible for them to have all those ads online with positive feed back. They have to be paid advertisement because anything consumer based are all negative.
I called to cancel this so called «service «and was told you can’t so I requested a copy of my agreement. NO KIDDING it took 5 calls over a 3 week span to finally get my agreement. I have blocked them through my bank and is in the process of CONSULTING WITH A LAWYER…
We all need to REPORT THEM to the BBB Maybe they will get SHUT DOWN. I have issues after issues with them I can’t even sit here and right them all down but I’m going to fight this contract. WHY PAY A COMPANY A X AMOUNT OF DOLLAR TO «PROTECT» YOU HOME AND FAMILY if you can’t even trust them with the basic customer service and follow through. I wouldn’t trust protect America to protect a dogs house let alone mine, where my family resides.
The company is so shady and impractical. How do you not have any way on cancelling service if it’s a legitamate reason. They don’t care if your having financial issues, moving to an apartment, or just completely I satisfied with service.
They don’t even follow the rules of my city and county which states they are not suppose to activate or even send out alarm systems until they have proof that the permit has been received. I got that information straight from the police home alarm department so maybe that will help with my case with my lawyer because technically the thing was installed illegally.

Protect America is bar none one of the worst companies around. Absolutely horrible customer service, equipment is from the 80’s, constant false alarms, constant sensor failure. Just all around terrible!
Today I switched to Lifeshield by DirecTV and I couldn’t be happier!
Even the cancelation department for Protect America is horrible. Apparently you can’t cancel on the weekends. Their cancelation dept works mon-​fri only. Today is Saturday, so I’m just sitting here playing with my Lifeshield tablet watching the clock… TicTac

I’m thoroughly convinced that any review here that has ANYTHING positive to say about Protect America, and their «security system» (believe me I use that term very loosely) is nothing more than an employee. or paid corporate shill. I say that based on my own HORRIBLE 3yr long experience.
I have never in my entire life been so mad at myself for entering into a «agreement» with this company. I could spend hours listing the same issues that other posters have already reported, but there’s no need to rehash the known. My best advice is to look else where for your security needs. You’ve been warned …
*UPDATE* 11/​19/​2015
Ignore the company «Rep» playing dumb, trying to reach out to me, nothing more than Protect America trying to do «Yelp damage control» Believe me I gave 2 C.S. reps, 2 C.S. Supervisors, and a customer service manager plenty of opportunities to help me when I called to cancel my service after totally fulfilling to the letter my «3 year» long contract.
At the end of the day I have nobody to blame but myself for not doing better research on something that affected my life for 3 long, costly years. My bad. Never again … DON’T BE LIKE ME … Learn from MY MISTAKE!

The LiveChat feature is great. The person I worked with was patient and helped me with my issue, replaced a piece of equipment with no hassle. It took a long time, just because we were trying to figure out what the heck was going on with the smoke detector but the instructions they gave over chat were clear and concise. After the latest storms that put out our power, they were easy to work with too. Would recommend, have been using them now for 11 months and am super happy.
I just would hope that there would be a way to get someone on the phone faster when it comes to customer service (Monitoring is excellent – they pick up in milliseconds with the monitoring) but the Live Chat is a nice way to field questions.